


beauty sleep

by adhdenkis



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (its really just a slap), Chronic Illness, Gen, Hypersomnia, Kleine-Levin Syndrome, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence, Neurological Disorders, Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, Sugawara Koushi-centric, can be seen as gen or established or preslash tbh, hyperphagia, no beta we die like men, sleeping disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:33:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29337600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adhdenkis/pseuds/adhdenkis
Summary: "Daichi! Takeda-sensei!" Hinata called out, "Something's wrong with Suga! He won't wake up!"—In which Suga is Karasuno Volleyball Club's very own sleeping beauty. Except with less fairies and princes and more headaches and shrimp chips, but just as much of a curse.
Relationships: Azumane Asahi & Sawamura Daichi & Sugawara Koushi, Azumane Asahi & Sugawara Koushi, Implied Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi - Relationship, Sawamura Daichi & Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 62





	beauty sleep

**Author's Note:**

> first work for the haikyuu fandom! back in high school i had a friend who suffered from kleine-levin syndrome and thought 'what if sugawara had it?' obviously i'm no expert on the disorder but i've done my best to research it and try to depict it in a realistic way without romanticizing it at all. please let me know if there's any medical inaccuracies!
> 
> also sorry if the syntax is kind of awkward, i wrote this in a single sitting at 3am because i couldn't sleep.
> 
> enjoy!

Koushi was _not_ having a good day. Right after lunch, his head started pounding as he tried to listen to his teacher lecture about the fundamental theorem of calculus. His history teacher called him out for not paying attention while she was speaking, humiliating him in front of the entire class.

And he completely bombed his English exam, despite studying for hours the night before. It was like he was reading the passages, but none of the information was actually making it to his brain. His mind was just full of static and fog and his growing headache, and eventually he just had to turn in his paper almost empty to which the teacher gave a disappointed 'tch' and a shake of his head.

"How'd the exam go? That last passage was kind of hard, but I think I got what the author was going for in the end," Daichi said as the last bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. 

Sugawara simply remained silent as he gathered his books.

The crease in Daichi's eyebrows showed that the captain could tell something was off. His embarrassing performance on the test had already made him all the more irritated. He knew Daichi was just worried, but he didn't need any pity. What he really needed was some ibuprofen. As they started heading to practice he felt the other boy's hand grab his shoulder and quickly and somewhat aggressively shrugged it off, beelining for the club room with an annoyed huff.

_(In reality, Suga knew it was coming. How could he not recognize the symptoms after almost three years of this? But it'd been so long, almost nine months now, that a part of him had hoped his disorder had just..._ vanished _. So maybe if he pushed through it, he could fool his body into thinking he was freed.)_

While the rest of the team chattered mindlessly as they changed clothing, he was hit with a sudden onslaught of weakness. He leaned against the wall and slid down as his legs started to feel like jello. Pulling out his sneakers from his bag and sluggishly slipping them on, he began to tie them but quickly got frustrated as his fingers continually fumbled. In the corner of his vision, he noticed the rest of the team head out to the gym, leaving him alone in the room. _It'll take them maybe ten minutes to set up the nets,_ Suga rationalized, _just enough time for him to close his eyes and will away this awful migraine before practice began. Just ten minutes._

* * *

"Where's Suga?" Daichi questioned as the team gathered around the captain to begin warm-ups.

"I think I saw him in the club room, earlier," Hinata answered, as the rest of the team just looked around the gym for any sign of the third year.

"Hm. Right. Well, Hinata, could you go see if he's okay? And tell him to get his butt down here for warm-ups ASAP. One bad exam isn't an excuse to skip practice."

Hinata skipped up the steps to the club room and pushed the door open. Initially, he didn't see any sign of his senpai, but a closer inspection made him notice the boy slumped in the corner over his book bag. The odd position made Hinata think he might've collapsed and thus, the first year ran up to the other boy and cautiously nudged him onto his back so he was no longer slumped over sideways.

Thankfully, the telltale deep and even breaths alerted him that Suga was merely napping, as he suspected. He let out a sigh of relief.

He gently grabbed the sleeping boy's shoulder. 

"Suga-san, it's time for practice. You need to get up now."

His hand was brushed away.

"Five minutes," he slurred. Koushi turned away from the first year so that he faced the wall, using his book bag as a pillow and shielded his face from the light with his arm.

"Sorry, but Daichi said we need to go to practice now! If we don't practice, how else are we going to win at nationals?"

He grabbed the shoulder with a bit more force this time, turning him over. The third year's face scrunched up in annoyance when he was once again facing the light.

"Leave me alone."

"Suga-"

"Leave me alone!" 

The raised voice shocked Hinata, but not as much as when Suga's arm lashed out and smacked the younger boy across the face, leaving behind a faint stinging and red mark on the middle blocker's cheek. Although the actual hit didn't have much power behind it, it still stunned him. Especially when Suga showed no remorse and simply turned back over to go back to bed.

Sugawara playfully hit his teammates all the time... but this time was different. This time, instead of the playful grins and teasing remarks, Suga was actually upset with Shouyou for trying to wake him. Upset enough to _hit him across the face_.

Immediately, he dashed out of the room and back to the gym.

* * *

"Daichi! Takeda-sensei!" Hinata called out, "Something's wrong with Suga! He won't wake up!"

Daichi stood up quickly from his bent-over stretch, followed by the rest of the team who glanced at the first year in confusion.

"What do you mean?" the captain asked as both he and the coaches made their way to the doorway Hinata was panting in.

"He's napping, I think, but when I tried to wake him up he got all mad and hit me! And not in the funny way! He hit me in the face and yelled at me!"

Kageyama stepped forward, "He hit you? What the hell?" and began to walk towards the door, but was stopped by Tsukishima's hand on his chest. The middle blocker's eyebrows were creased in confusion, and when Kageyama looked where he was staring he finally noticed the concern, but also begrudged understanding, on Daichi, Kiyoko, and Asahi's faces as they shared a knowing look following Hinata's explanation.

The ace started walking towards the doorway as well, while the captain just ran his hand through his hair with a sigh. Kiyoko grabbed what looked like a first aid kit from the storage room and handed Hinata a cold pack.

"Ennoshita," Ukai called out, "Lead warm-ups. And then all of you practice your receives with Kiyoko. When I come back, you all better have red arms from how many digs you've done."

The team groaned, but it was only half-hearted as concern grew for their friend.

As Ennoshita counted the group through a hamstring stretch, Kageyama could hear snippets of Daichi's voice coming from the conversation between the adults and the third years.

_"...Takeda-sensei? Could you please call Suga's parent's and tell them he's having another episode?..."_

_"...He's fine. But he hasn't really had one during school since first year. He said a while ago that his new medication was helping..."_

_"...I'm going to go check on him. Come on Asahi..."_

Daichi and Asahi began to leave the gym, Ukai not too far behind. Takeda was stood at the edge of the gym with his phone pressed against his ear, lip bit in worry.

"Five laps!" Ennoshita called out. Kageyama tuned out after that.

* * *

Practice went by in a blur. None of them could truly focus knowing something was wrong with their vice captain, so Ukai, who had returned about half an hour ago, let them go early with a promise to take care of themselves and get a good night's sleep before morning practice tomorrow.

The group headed back to the club room, but as they reached the bottom of the stairs they ran into Daichi, supporting Sugawara who seemed to be swaying on his feet and disoriented, eyes squinting at how bright the sun was.

"Too bright," they could hear him mumbling as Daichi rubbed circles into his back.

An older man with familiar soft features came down the steps and stopped next to the captain and vice captain, grabbing Koushi's free arm and wrapping it around his own shoulders. Daichi released his grip on Suga and the boy stumbled a bit but stayed upright against his father.

"Thank you Daichi. I'm going to take him to the car now."

"Of course. I'll come by in a few days to bring some notes and homework for when he gets up."

The Sugawaras started walking slowly towards the parking lot, passing the team on their way and stopping briefly.

"Say goodbye to your friends, Koushi!" his father nudged his chest with his elbow.

Suga sluggishly lifted his head in the general direction of the team and blinked in response before finally achieving a small smile, earning a chuckle from the older man.

A woman that had to be his mom, if the mole on her cheek was any indication, came down the steps chatting with Asahi. She had Suga's backpack on her shoulders, while the ace carried his volleyball duffel.

At the appearance of his mother, Suga suddenly cried out, "Mom! I'm _tired!_ "

"I know you are, honey."

"I wan' go home!" he whined, " _Now,_ please. I wanna go now."

"Okay, okay. We're going home now."

It was jarring to see their usually composed teammate acting like this. It was uncharacteristic and quite honestly a bit frightening.

With a quiet thank you, his mom grabbed the bag from Asahi's hands and joined her son and husband. The family turned the corner and disappeared out of sight of the group who were left staring before Asahi cleared his throat and they continued their trek to the club room.

* * *

When they all filtered in, Daichi head towards the front of the room with Asahi hovering over his shoulder. The seniors both looked upset and stressed, presumably from whatever was going on with their friend.

The entire room was sat down, looking at their captain expectedly. Said captain cleared his throat awkwardly.

"So, I'm sure you have a lot of questions."

Immediately the room exploded as everyone yelled their thoughts at once.

Daichi yelled, "Quiet!" which immediately brought the room back to the silence from before, "One at a time."

Sheepishly, Yamaguchi piped up, "Daichi, is Suga okay?"

"Suga's fine. He's just... tired. Really, really, _really_ tired."

That only confused the team more.

"Was he up late studying for his exam?" Tanaka offered.

"No. ...Well actually, probably, but that's not why he's so tired. Suga has a... condition. Sometimes he falls into these episodes, and when he does he gets so tired it's hard to wake him up. For the most part, all he does is sleep and wake up in a daze, sort of... It's kind of hard to explain."

Daichi scratched his neck.

Sensing his friend's discomfort, Asahi interjected, "Uh, sometimes they call it sleeping beauty syndrome. The actual name is something with a K... Oh! Kleine-Levin syndrome. Suga falls asleep and he'll stay asleep most of the day, sometimes up to 23 hours. And for him the episodes can go on anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, usually. Last time when he woke up he described the few hours he was awake like sleepwalking. Said he doesn't really remember anything or understand what's happening until afterwards."

This time it was Ennoshita that spoke up.

"Um, why was he acting like that earlier?"

Both third years looked at each other. Asahi shrugged.

"Er... We don't really know, and Suga doesn't either. Sometimes he's lethargic. Sometimes he's childish. Sometimes he's irritated. It all depends on the episode."

Nishinoya stared at the ground with worry. "And this has happened before?"

"Yeah. Uh, it actually happened during our first year. He had a really high fever that time and fell asleep halfway through a practice match. Everyone thought he was dying. Then he woke up about a month and a half later and laughed at us for worrying about him so much. He had a few more that year, but they really slowed down after he changed medications during second year."

"So... he's going to wake up?" Hinata asked quietly.

Daichi ruffled his orange hair. "Yeah, he'll wake up eventually. He always does. He'll be back and better than ever soon, you'll see."

After that the team left the school and back to their respective households, each feeling a bit grateful to wake up early the next morning for practice.

* * *

About two weeks later, in the middle of after school practice, a familiar mop of silver hair popped their head through the gym door with a grin.

"Suga!" Hinata was the first to notice, immediately dropping the ball he was about to serve and running over to wrap him in a tight hug.

Sugawara laughed, returning the hug.

"I was only gone for twelve days, Hinata."

"You scared me!"

Suga embarrassedly rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah... Hinata, I'm really sorry I hit you in the face."

"It's okay. You didn't mean to."

By now the rest of the team had gathered to welcome him. The last to do so was Daichi, who pat him on the back and gave him a relieved laugh.

"That one was quick."

"Yeah, well, I guess I missed playing volleyball with you guys so much that even pricking my finger on a cursed spinning wheel couldn't keep me away for too long," he joked.

"So, are you going to be joining us for the rest of practice?"

"Ah, no. I just stopped by to say hi. My legs still kind of feel like they're going to give out at any second and my stomach's been hurting because apparently this time I had a _really_ strong craving for shrimp chips. I probably went through like, twenty bags of the stuff! My breath is going to smell like shrimp for weeks."

Asahi and Daichi laughed, and the rest of the team awkwardly laughed along with them.

"I actually need to go meet with some teachers about my missed work. I'll be back in a couple of days though, I promise!"

He grinned at his team, glad to be awake.

**Author's Note:**

> i might have a few ideas for future chapters like suga's reaction when he wakes up and realizes everyone knows, or another episode he has where daichi helps take care of him... i don't know if i'll ever write them but if there's anything anyone really wants to see let me know!
> 
> follow me on twitter [@adhdenkis](https://twitter.com/adhdenkis)! comments and kudos are very appreciated <3


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